In feb last year I went to the small town of Greensboro Alabama to build a bamboo bike frame at a three day workshop. Was a very interesting experience and I have been collecting parts over the past year to build the bike up and get it rolling around the streets of Melbourne.

First was pretty much as per the instructions. My everyday commuting bike.Second had modified rear dropouts. Given to a friend as a Christmas gift.Third (not riding yet, just kitting out) is a hybrid with a carbon rear end off an old bike that was not being used by a racer friend.

i like the look of it.What is the ride like? do you feel any "give" in the joins or flex vertically?do you think you could build it without doing a workshop? or were you in the US already so took a detour?

It rides like a bike - I really don't notice it being flexy or strange. Yes, it is a smooth ride over bumps, but it doesn't feel like I'm riding in porridge.

Third frame will be ready to ride tomorrow. Just have to pick it up from the bike shop where it has been getting the larger items like bottom brackets installed (i.e. stuff I don't have the tools for).

I built my first in the workshops at my then employer - kinda handy when they have a marine boatyard with all the tools you need at hand. Number 2 and 3 were made in an out of the way nook in the basement carpark of my apartment building.

You could do it in any garden shed or garage, subject to dust management.

rockpaper wrote:thanks, madmarsupial. bookmarked their site and added to my (long) list of DIY projects. and the long list of tools required...

You don't need too many tools. I could write a list of bare minimum requirements.

Latest bike is now completed after a few days at the bike shop for some technical stuff (like chasing the BB threads and a new crown race) and for some annoying stuff (waiting for the Italian BB - was part of the original donor bike...I wouldn't have chosen this!).

rockpaper wrote:thanks, madmarsupial. bookmarked their site and added to my (long) list of DIY projects. and the long list of tools required...

You don't need too many tools. I could write a list of bare minimum requirements.

Latest bike is now completed after a few days at the bike shop for some technical stuff (like chasing the BB threads and a new crown race) and for some annoying stuff (waiting for the Italian BB - was part of the original donor bike...I wouldn't have chosen this!).

Front derailleur isn't quite right - the tubing is larger diameter than most frames and despite cutting a deep recess for the mount i'm rubbing the chain on the cage in 34/28-26. For want of about 1/2mm!!!

I'm going to start to gather parts to do a Mk4 frame and see if I can solve that FD issue.

Front derailleur isn't quite right - the tubing is larger diameter than most frames and despite cutting a deep recess for the mount i'm rubbing the chain on the cage in 34/28-26. For want of about 1/2mm!!!

I'm going to start to gather parts to do a Mk4 frame and see if I can solve that FD issue.

Any chance of doing some tweaking to shift the crankset across?

e.g. Adding a spacer on RHS and facing the LHS and maybe a pedal washer for the left pedal?

ironhanglider wrote:Any chance of doing some tweaking to shift the crankset across?

e.g. Adding a spacer on RHS and facing the LHS and maybe a pedal washer for the left pedal?

1mm should be easily doable.

This does work and it is how I improved the shifting on my Mk1 bike.

However, it is difficult in this case as the recycled bottom bracket is Italian and that 70mm eats up a bit too much of the crank spindle (i.e. not a lot left on the NDS to bolt the other crank arm on to!!!) compared to an English 68mm bottom bracket.

We also had the problem that the bike shop didn't have any suitable thin spacers!

I'm sure I could try a 0.5mm safely, but I don't have one to play with.

Only one small problem...when we were assembling it we realised that the brake mount in the seat stays was for a long reach brake. I had to do my first few rides without a rear brake. Luckily I found some brake pad shoes that were offset to help solve this.

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